GENERATIVE AI, TRUST AND TRANSPARENCY: A STUDY ON ETHICAL CONCERNS AND AI GOVERNANCE AMONG MANAGEMENT STUDENTS

Abstract

In recent years, generative AI (GenAI) tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot have become part of education, and students use them for preparing assignments, clarifying doubts and creating academic content. Although GenAI supports learning and saves time, it also raises ethical challenges such as data privacy, bias, plagiarism and a lack of clarity in AI-generated answers. Understanding how students view these issues is important because they are future managers who may play a key role in digital transformation. This descriptive study is based on primary data collected from 114 students in Ramanathapuram District through a structured questionnaire and analysed using frequency and percentage analysis. The results show that 71.68% of students use GenAI sometimes and 25.66% use it daily; half of the respondents fully trust GenAI answers, and 30.09% are worried about data privacy. A majority (77.68%) felt that colleges should teach the ethical use of GenAI, while 44.64% reported that their institution has no clear rules for its use. The study highlights the need for better ethical awareness, clear institutional guidelines and responsible AI governance in education and proposes a Trust–Transparency–Governance (T-T-G) model for responsible GenAI use among students.